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Texas Rangers lineup for March 31, 2026 against the Baltimore Orioles: starting pitchers are Jacob deGrom for the Rangers and Zach Eflin for the Orioles.

Texas looks to extend their winning streak to four games this afternoon. Josh Jung, who has started the season on an 0 for 17 streak, is on the bench. Ezequiel Duran is starting at third base.

Lineup:

Nimmo — RF

Langford — LF

Seager — SS

Burger — 1B

Pederson — DH

Smith — 2B

Jansen — C

Carter — CF

Duran — 2B

5:35 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are -130 favorites.

The New York Yankees are off to as good a start as you can ask for in the 2026 Major League Baseball season. After a series sweep of the San Francisco Giants on the road, they travel up the west coast and play the Seattle Mariners for a three-game series before a day off and their first home series of the year against the Miami Marlins.

With the strong start and some excellent performances from the necessary players to steer this ship toward a World Series, there was certainly some optimism among the Yankees fanbase coming out of opening weekend (also with the understanding that the Giants are a team still trying to find their footing in the National League West). However, according to a recent article in The Athletic, Yankees fans were generally less optimistic about the 2026 season and its potential results. In fact, they were about as optimistic as a few teams firmly within the rebuild territory.

The first observation from the optimism survey is precisely that: the Yankees, a team that tied for first in the American League East with 94 wins and made it to the American League Divisional Series (even though that’s not nearly the standard that has been set), are sandwiched by the Chicago White Sox, who finished last year with 102 losses — the second-most in all of MLB — and the Miami Marlins, who finished four games below the .500 mark. They’re also only three spots higher than the St. Louis Cardinals, who finished six games under .500 last year and have made it pretty clear that they’re in rebuild territory.

Suffice to say, for a team that finished with such a good placement in the standings last year and had a legitimate chance of making it back to the World Series, it was unexpected to see them surrounded by those other franchises.

Below are the Yankees’ finishes in the “Hope-O-Meter” polls in other seasons and how their final results turned out.

2025: 68.1 percent (17); 94-68, T-1st in AL East, lost in ALDS to Toronto Blue Jays
2024: 80.7 percent (11); 94-68, 1st in AL East, lost in World Series to Los Angeles Dodgers
2023: 71.1 percent (18); 82-80, 4th in AL East, Did not make playoffs
2022: 48 percent (21); 99-63, 1st in AL East, lost in ALCS to Houston Astros

Within these results there is a little bit of correlation here — the highest finishing year being the year where they made it to the World Series, the third-highest being when the team tied for first and made it to the ALDS — but the other two years showcase that just because the fans aren’t optimistic doesn’t mean that the plan of attack will or won’t work out. Yankees fans in 2022 finished 21st (one spot above where they are for 2026) and made it to the ALCS after winning the division with 99 wins. The year following, they finished 18th and went almost .500.

While the Yankees did take a more unpopular approach to the offseason moves they made this winter, it’s important to note that it’s a lot easier to look at your house and say it’s burning when you’re looking for every tiny ember versus not looking nearly as closely at all the other houses around you that are burning or have the potential to do so. And, of course, it’s important to remember that the entire attitude around the Yankees organization is “championship or bust.” It’s a noble concept in practice. Everyone wants their sports franchise to be run that way. But it can provide a bit of a “rose colored glasses” view of how a team operates relative to the others around it.

The Hope-O-Meter is not a predictor of results, and it never has been. Instead, it’s more of a fun experiment done by an outlet that lets fans voice their feelings (good or bad) about where they believe their franchise is heading into the season. And while Yankees fans were clearly not thrilled with how things were handled over the offseason and heading into the regular season, there’s a reason they play the games.

The Braves will be going for the series win against the A’s behind Jose Suarez, in a matchup of fringy starting pitchers with the opportunity to give Chris Sale a chance to secure a sweep tomorrow. The Braves are running with what is probably their best possible lineup on true talent available on the active roster, facing the righty in Civale, as Mike Yastrzemski bats fifth and plays left field. Walt Weiss continues to be comfortable stacking Baldwin and Olson at 2 and 3 in the lineup, despite them both being lefties. At the back of the lineup, Dominic Smith rejoins the lineup at DH and Mauricio Dubon plays shortstop once again.

On the other side, the A’s shuffled their lineup a bit, as Nick Kurtz drops to third and Jacob Wilson takes the leadoff spot. Former Braves first round pick Shea Langeliers catches for the A’s and bats second.

Tonight’s game is on BravesVision and Gray TV at 7:15 PM ET. This may be a game high in runs scored, given the pitching matchup and offensive talent, so let’s hope the Braves can bring the lumber.

It’s been since September 17th, 2024 since Brandon Williamson has taken a mound in a professional baseball game at any level, let alone at the big league level. His grind back after having Tommy John surgery on the UCL in his left arm, though, is finally complete.

Williamson will start for the Cincinnati Reds tonight at home in Great American Ball Park with the Pittsburgh Pirates in town, the second game of this three-game set between the NL Central rivals. The Reds took home the first game of the series last night behind an excellent start by Chase Burns and a rock solid effort from some inexperienced arms in their bullpen, and Williamson will hope to lead the charge tonight that gets them a second straight series victory.

The lefty looked good all through Cactus League play, eventually earning his way onto the team’s Opening Day roster despite a positional battle with former 1st rounders like Burns and Rhett Lowder. After Nick Lodolo’s blister issues flared up, though, the team’s ‘six for five’ plan with their starters was reduced down to a five-man rotation that needed Williamson to be a starter from the outset.

That’s what we’re going to see for the first time tonight.

Spencer Steer will be the odd-man out of the starting lineup for this one after having started each of the team’s first four games of the year, the team’s utility-man extraordinaire sure to make an appearance at some point later in the game. Will Benson will slide over and start in LF with RHP Bubba Chandler on the mound for the Pirates, while Noelvi Marte is back in the starting lineup in RF after getting last night off.

Here’s how the Reds have stacked their lineup for the evening:

First pitch in this one is once again set for 6:40 PM ET, and you’ll be able to view the broadcast via Reds.TV.

As I was recapping Saturday’s extra-inning loss to the Reds, my thoughts and emotions ran the gamut when it came to ABS, umpiring, and the intersection of the two. I touched on a few of those in the recap itself, but the broad outlines were this:

• The ABS system (officially, the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System) brought a level of fairness back to the game, in that some clear mistakes were overturned
• The home-plate umpiring on Saturday was awful and a challenge system overall goes some way toward ameliorating that, when it happens
• There was heightened drama in the game, and it didn’t all stem from Wilyer Abreu’s two-out, ninth-inning heroics, or the intensity of extra innings

I had some other thoughts about ABS that I didn’t include in the game recap because it felt just a little out of scope for that format. Keeping in mind that this Red Sox season is still getting off the ground, so the sample size is currently miniscule, here’s me poking around this topic a little bit more.

Pros

CB Bucknor, the home plate umpire for Saturday’s game, was not on point in any way, shape, or form. He simply didn’t have it. It is objectively true that his ball-strike calls were off the mark, proven by six challenges (out of eight total) that overturned his initial call. (He was also far from on-point, but within his rights, in his missed check swing call on Trevor Story. Let’s come back to that.)

Eugenio Suárez struck out twice in the sixth inning with two outs and the bases loaded, on called strikes and on successive pitches. (What a weird sentence to write, but it is factually correct. We live in strange times, my friends.) Suárez challenged the call each time and prevailed. This was way more exciting, and important, than Roman Anthony using up the remaining Red Sox challenges in the first at-bat of the third inning, when the stakes were low. Ultimately, the Suárez reversals didn’t matter because the Sox retired him anyway, but it restored to the Reds their rightful opportunity to proceed with the inning and hopefully capitalize.

This is important and is certainly the point of the whole ABS system.

Something I wasn’t expecting was the additional excitement the challenges added. You could see and hear the crowd’s reaction when the result of each Suárez challenge was revealed. They went wild. The cheer that went up was as loud as if he had hit a home run. It was a high-stakes moment, as discussed, and Suárez is a batter who can turn on the power, so anything seemed possible. And for it to happen twice! Unprecedented.

In-game excitement, yes, count me in. Is it also possible that some of the fun comes from rebelling against authority in some small, albeit sanctioned, way? For me, I think that might be true; I felt it also when Roman Anthony won his initial challenge. In a world where computer programs monitor my keystrokes to let coworkers know that I’m not actively tapping away at the keyboard…where cameras track my nearly every movement, through my neighborhood, my city, my workplace…where Rob Manfred, Sam Kennedy, John Henry and more are trying to get more money from me while investing increasingly fewer resources of their own, generally speaking…little wins can take on a bigger profile. Maybe this is one of those micro-wins, one minuscule way to enjoy the feeling of beating the system, even for just a moment? I don’t know, but my therapist may have additional thoughts on the subject.

Cons

This isn’t really a con of the ABS system but it can’t be left out of the discussion of Saturday’s game: the call that arguably could have mattered was Story’s controversial strikeout on a checked swing in the eighth inning. It hurt because the Red Sox had some momentum going, with batters on first and second with two outs, in a one-run game. But this was a situation not governed by ABS, nor was it subject to challenge at all.

Lou Merloni mentioned several times that Bucknor did not consult with the first base umpire on his decision. Quick rules review: because Story was deemed to have swung and a strike subsequently called, there was no possibility of appeal. If Bucknor had called a ball (having decided Story had not swung), an appeal would have been possible, most likely from the Reds’ catcher, or the manager. In this case, it could have been appealed and then Bucknor would have been required to ask for a ruling from a corner base umpire (first base, in this case, since Story is right-handed) who has a better angle. With a strike call in this situation, there is no possibility for appeal (see Rule 8.02 (c) of the Official Baseball Rules (and please don’t ask me why I can order the bound and printed 2026 version, but MLB itself posts the 2025 rules on their website. It is what it is. See what I mean about micro-wins?). Could Bucknor have asked for assistance before making that strike call? Yes, if he thought he didn’t see it. Based on his quick ejection of Alex Cora, he seemed more than willing to double down, so I wouldn’t necessarily expect him to say he didn’t see, wasn’t sure, or needed help. This is veering into pop psychology territory but is all a way of saying that ABS righted several umpiring wrongs on Saturday even though it didn’t come through for the Red Sox where it felt like it might have counted. Of course, this is all a what-if game because even if the opportunity was restored to the Red Sox to proceed with the at-bat, who says Story would have executed?

Aside from Story’s at-bat, introducing checked swings into a discussion on ABS isn’t totally out of nowhere. Check swing challenge testing has been underway. Could this make a difference in the future? Perhaps, but first MLB may need to actually define a checked swing; there is currently no definition at all.

Here’s a true con, but one which was within the Red Sox control: Roman Anthony wasted a challenge. So did Carlos Narváez, for that matter, and they each did it in extremely low-stakes situations. In the first inning of the second game of the season, to me, Narváez’s challenge felt like a new toy. He lost his challenge, but Anthony’s first challenge generated a fuck yeah! adrenaline boost in me for proving the umpire wrong. Maybe Anthony felt the same. But by the very next pitch, when he challenged again, the novelty had already worn off. It was the third challenge of the day by the Sox, and it was only the first batter of the third inning. It was a 3-1 pitch, for godsakes. Anthony was wrong, the Red Sox were out of challenges far too early in the game, and that will serve as a strategy lesson.

I also wonder if ABS lengthened the time of the game. It will take more games and data to see if that’s true, but it feels true about Saturday’s game. Sometime during that game, I wrote “3 hours???” in my notes, well before it went to extra innings. The 2025 nine-inning average game time was 2:38; the final game time for Saturday was 3:32. This game didn’t spend an hour in extra innings, so it was empirically a long game through nine. Was it a coincidence that there were also multiple ABS challenges? It’s completely anecdotal at this early stage of the season. But I have to ask: is ABS at odds with one of baseball’s central goals of increasing engagement and interest in our beautiful sport by keeping game times manageable?

I find myself, for now, in support of ABS, in that it can restore opportunities that were wrongly taken away, but it also tried my patience on Saturday. Red Sox hitters will need to develop ABS discipline to match their plate discipline, or turn off their egos, or whatever in order for the team to use this tool to their advantage. These are quick thoughts on a big subject that will continue to play out in the 2026 season.

Every Major League Baseball team begins Spring Training with one goal in mind: to win a World Series title. The San Diego Padres are chasing the same goal, as their desire to win has never wavered. 

Disappointing opening series does not define season

The opening series loss to the Detroit Tigers was disappointing and felt like a setback. A sputtering offense can turn a festive environment into an eerily quiet ballpark. It reminded everyone of the Wild Card Series against the Chicago Cubs last October. The lineup could not plate runs and that shattered everyone’s dreams of this being a long playoff run.

However, a 162-game regular season is a marathon, and stumbles of this nature rarely define a team’s final record. The Padres can still set a tone for 2026.

The Friar Faithful will have to take their anxiety level down a notch, but they’re tired of the excuses for empty Octobers. The absence of another run-producing bat, starting rotation injuries, and having a frugal payroll are no longer acceptable excuses for postseason failures. 

It is time to change the narrative because the Padres’ roster is too talented and postseason-ready to fizzle out in the first week of October baseball. 

Padres team leaders can change the narrative

Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. are the undisputed team leaders, who have become hardened by crushing playoff losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. Both are tired of receiving pats on the back for their outstanding play and are determined to change the results.

Some within the organization would like to base the Friars’ success on their pitching staff and move past last season’s offensive struggles to score runs. Randy Vasquez showed over the weekend why he is a prized pitching talent. He could conceivably be the Padres’ ace by season’s end.

Possessing the game’s best bullpen, the Friars can shorten the contest to a five- or six-inning affair. Shutting down the opposing team’s bats does mask the club’s offensive flaws. 

Thankfully, the bats showed up to salvage the final game against the Tigers. The lineup has several question marks, but the group did have moderate success on Saturday night. The hope is that more productive at-bats will return everyone to form and lead to more baserunners crossing home plate.

2026 can become a promising season

Setting the tone never guarantees a team will make the playoffs. Professional athletes rarely need tangible reminders about their goals for the coming season. They aim to hit their stride just in time for October baseball.

A couple of bad days should never reflect how a baseball team would fare in the regular season. It further confirms how unpredictable the sport actually has become. The 2026 Padres have high expectations, and losing the first home series is just a blip on their radar.

The roster has enough talent to secure another postseason berth. If the Friars get into the dance, all bets are off on how far they can go.